Waste segregation requires participation from all stakeholders: Chennai Corporation Commissioner

by July 15, 2024 Waste Management
GCC Commissioner Dr J Radhakrishnan assures sanitary workers not to worry about their job security when waste collection is privatised

Chennai generates as much as 6,300 metric tonnes of garbage every day. Of this, 60% of the waste is biodegradable — which means that if we segregate the waste properly at source this 60% could be prevented from going to the landfills and eventually turning into legacy waste.

Like any other metro city, Chennai also faces many challenges in the management of solid waste. The first part of this series delved into the challenges that Chennai faces in segregating waste at source. In the second part, Dr J Radhakrishnan, Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner, talks to Citizen Matters about various issues related to solid waste management in Chennai.

GCC Commissioner Dr J Radhakrishnan
GCC Commissioner Dr J Radhakrishnan

Read more: Why a waste-to-energy plant is not the answer to Chennai’s garbage problems

Chennai and its challenges with solid waste management

“Solid waste management is a labour-intensive activity. As many as 19,000 odd people are removing the garbage of 89 lakh people every day in Chennai. This will work only when the waste is segregated at the source,” says Radhakrishnan.

Though biomining allows to process the mixed waste, it is ideal for the residents to segregate the waste at the source. “We need a multipronged approach to deal with the solid waste in a city like Chennai and it requires participation from all sides (not only residents but also the workers and all others),” he adds.

The recent resolution passed in the GCC Council allows tendering out the collection and transportation of solid waste in the two zones (Royapuram (zone 5) and Thiru. Vi. Ka. Nagar (zone 6) to private agencies. Opposing this, over 150 conservancy workers staged a protest.

Responding to this, Radhakrishnan says that the GCC will make a conscious effort to utilise the workers across various departments like health, schools, parks or in the zones where waste collection is not privatised. “The workers need not worry about their job security,” assures Radhakrishnan.

Watch the full video to learn more about how GCC plans to approach the idea of a waste-to-energy plant, how they monitor the private contractors involved in waste collection and more.

Video by Shobana Radhakrishnan

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About Shobana Radhakrishnan

Shobana Radhakrishnan is a Senior Reporter at Citizen Matters. Before moving to Chennai in 2022, she reported for the national daily, The New Indian Express (TNIE), from Madurai. During her stint at TNIE, she did detailed ground reports on the plight of migrant workers and the sorry-state of public libraries in addition to covering the renowned Jallikattu, Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections (2021) and Rural Local Body Polls (2019-2020). Shobana has a Masters degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from the Pondicherry Central University and a Bachelors in English Literature. She keenly follows the impact of development on vulnerable groups.
Read more by Shobana Radhakrishnan

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